Small Dorset village revives historic medieval celebration.
Photographer Jayne Jackson has captured a series of beautiful images of the Chettle Wassail, a midwinter celebration of the apple trees in the orchards of this tiny rural community of just 100 people in North Dorset.
This unique celebration was created by the people who live in the village, building on old traditions and adding new ones to celebrate the nature and landscape of the beautiful valley. The images are of villagers and a handful of invited guests from the surrounding area. They give a private view into a joyful and strange centuries-old tradition where the ‘Head Apple’ leads a procession to an orchard to honour this most special fruit and to wake up the spring-time.
Wassailing is an old (probably medieval) tradition in the South-West of England of asking the apple trees to bear a good harvest, offering the orchards toast and song and chasing out evil spirits. There is usually plenty of singing to the health of the trees and cries of “Wassail” which means ‘good health’. An apple wassail is also a very good reason to meet around a fire in the doldrums of midwinter and enjoy nature.
The village has created a brand new Wassail ceremony for the 21st century, albeit one which draws on the old folk ritual. Four brand new songs have been written, inspired by the landscape around the village, and old traditional songs were learnt. The villagers also made beautiful costumes, headdresses and props inspired by the nature around them– antlers for the deer, barn owls and evergreens. A new ceremonial outfit for the ‘Head Apple’ was also made collaboratively by all the participants.
An impressive roster of guest artists were invited into Chettle to help inspire this old-but-new ritual. Mercury-nominated folk singer and activist Sam Lee, Human Ecologist and artist Zoe Laureen Palmer, genre-bending classical violinist Simmy Singh, and choir leader Sandie Campbell all worked alongside Dorset-based artists Lorna Rees and Adam Coshan to help collectively create the performance. The event has been beautifully documented in a film by artist, director and filmmaker Sophie Austin which will be out later this year. The project has been produced by Chettle resident Becky Burchell.
Lead artist Lorna Rees said “as artists, we’re deeply interested in how we collectively reconnect ourselves to the land and the food it produces, through celebrations, rituals, gatherings and culture. We wanted to help make an apple wassailing event to celebrate the trees in these orchards. We also wanted to have a party – to wake up the spring in the bleak of midwinter.
Chettle is a really special place. There has been a settlement in the valley for 6000 years, the village dates to Norman times and it’s steeped in Wessex folklore. There’s also something of the disco about the town – many of the inhabitants have worked on large-scale music festivals and raves, or else they are artists, growers and incredible craftspeople. I think that’s what makes Jayne’s magical images quite so special.”
The CHETTLE WASSAIL is now an annual mid-winter event, observed every year on the weekend nearest to the ‘old twelfth’ (17th January). This project was funded by the Dorset Performing Arts Fund at the Dorset Community Foundation.